The company continues researching new varieties, positioning new produce and improving the post-harvest
Fruit Today euromagazine had the chance to interview Alfonso Rivera, sales manager for the company.
The citrus fruit campaign is, without any doubt, one of the most important ones as a product category. How did the previous one end and what are the company’s expectations? (Currently, both the Valencian Community and Murcia will record important drops in production).
The last campaign was highly satisfactory, particularly in late oranges and late mandarins, with excellent produce and good prices. The new campaign looks promising, with fewer kilos and good quality parameters. Although rain will be necessary to obtain larger fruit.
What is your view of what has happened in the stone fruit season that is about to end?
The peach, nectarine and flat peach campaigns have been very complicated due to an excess of produce on the market and also owing to bad weather conditions in Europe throughout the month of May. We have all experienced this. Plums have fared better, with prices rising as the campaign advanced. The cherry campaign, without reaching the excellent prices of the previous one, has been good.
Frutaria is a company that operates globally. Can you give me your impression of behaviour in third countries? In the Asian market? And in Europe?
For Spanish produce, the Asian markets are being consolidated in the winter campaigns and they are starting to look for us for the summer campaigns. The outstanding position that Spanish oranges are reaching in China is worth mentioning.
What will the company’s next challenges be, agronomically and regarding centres, brands or promotion campaigns?
Frutaria is opting for the integrity of its approach. We continue working on new varieties that are adapted to the different markets, on positioning the varieties from our improvement programme along with other national and international producers and on new post-harvest techniques. With regard to marketing, we have made three corporate videos, a general one, one about our fields and a third one about warehouses and produce. They can be seen on our YouTube channel and on our stand at Fruit Attraction.
